gotchanewsdaily.com 
CNN
—
Workers and executives in the wind industry are deeply worried as the Trump administration has moved to bring the once-booming business to a standstill.
President Donald Trump, who has raged against wind turbines for many years, took swift action to crack down on wind on the first day of his second term. He paused federal permits and leasing for onshore and offshore wind projects and ordered a review of existing leases.
Trump’s targeted attack on wind, and the uncertain fate of key tax credits, have cast a shadow over the industry. Projects have been canceled, developers have taken billions in writedowns, and workers fear what’s next.
“It’s extremely frustrating. It feels like the rug can get pulled out from under our feet at basically any moment,” Joe Zimsen, a quality inspector under contract at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, told CNN in a phone interview.
Zimsen, a member of the Green Workers Alliance, which mobilizes over 1,500 workers in the clean energy industry, has worked in wind energy for a decade.
“The president has a vendetta against wind. The industry is being singled out,” Zimsen said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked about the concern from wind industry executives and employees, Interior Department spokesperson J. Elizabeth Peace told CNN in a statement that the Interior Department and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management are implementing Trump’s memorandum temporarily halting offshore wind leasing.
Layoffs and canceled projects
The pressure from Washington is a stark contrast to other countries, including China and the European Union’s member states, which are installing offshore wind turbines at a startling clip.
Even with the US wind slump, there’s set to be a record installation of offshore wind globally – driven mostly by China.
In the United States, wind executives say there is still a pipeline of projects on the way, but there is now vast uncertainty over how many will move forward given the policy pressure from Washington. And some companies in the industry are laying off workers or calling off plans to hire new ones.
Ahead of Trump’s executive order on wind, an Italian company abandoned plans to build a factory in Massachusetts to produce undersea cables to US offshore wind farms.
The Prysmian Group blamed the broader slowdown in the offshore wind industry when it canceled the project, which would have created up to 350 factory jobs at the site of an old coal-fired power plant.
Last month, offshore wind developer Vineyard Offshore reportedly 50 jobs due to market uncertainty. And developers of a separate offshore wind farm that’s set to supply power in Rhode Island and Massachusetts said their project could face a four-year delay caused by Trump’s actions.
Since the election, the wind industry has shed about 300 jobs, and another roughly 10,000 have been delayed as developers slow projects, according to a tally by Climate Power, which advocates for clean energy investment.
Workers consider leaving the industry
The industry is laser-focused on trying to get five projects that are in the later stages of development across the finish line to construction, Hillary Bright, the executive director of wind advocacy group Turn Forward, told CNN.
But Bright said there are many more projects in various stages of permitting by the federal government that have question marks hanging over them.
“At this point, there’s been no clear answer” from the Trump administration, Bright told CNN.
Multiple employees in the wind industry told CNN that they are starting to think about leaving the industry due to concerns about the pressure from Washington.
“I just don’t understand how wind can be targeted. We need more energy sources,” said one employee at a wind developer who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
Another wind energy executive who has young children told CNN that he realizes he may need to pivot to a different field.
“The prospects look dim. You want to hang on and have hope, but the glimmers of hope are fading,” the executive said.
Slump pre-dates Trump
Trump has long expressed disdain for wind turbines, arguing that they are eyesores and hurt wildlife.
“We’re not going to do the wind thing. Big, ugly wind mills,” Trump said hours after starting his second term.
Trump has blamed windmills for killing whales, a claim the industry flatly rejects. (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website says there are “no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.”)
Some of the pressure on wind existed before Trump took office, in part due to tight supply chains, competition from solar developments, local opposition to projects and high borrowing costs.
“The wind industry was in a bit of a slump, even before the change in administration,” said Sam Huntington, director of the North American power team at S&P Global.
But that pressure has been intensified by the Trump administration – especially on the offshore wind industry.
Trump’s January 20 executive order temporarily halted lease sales in federal waters for offshore wind. It also paused approvals, permitting and loans for offshore and onshore wind.
Onshore wind is more insulated from Trump’s crackdown because most of those projects are on private property. Offshore, by contrast, requires additional federal approval.
Dave Belote, who helps advise wind developers, told CNN that he has noticed a sharp slowdown in getting the Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration to determine onshore wind projects that don’t pose a hazard to military activities.
Without that federal sign-off, wind projects often can’t get the financing or insurance needed to go forward.
“We’re kind of in limbo. A process that was already slow has slowed further,” said Belote, a retired Air Force colonel and F-16 pilot.
‘Short-sighted and ill-advised’
Beyond Trump’s executive order, the wind industry is hurting from uncertainty around potential import tariffs and the fate of the tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate investment in US history.
Trump has prioritized support for the fossil fuels industry, promising to slash red tape and gut environmental rules in an effort to drive prices lower.
Wind supporters note that the energy source has created jobs and generated tax revenue used to build roads, schools and fire stations in blue states and red states.
Bright, the executive director of Turn Forward, argued that offshore wind represents a chance for the United States to have energy security and ample electricity – especially given the increased power demand from artificial intelligence.
Trump’s efforts to crack down on wind “fly in the face of what we’re trying to achieve with energy dominance in an energy emergency,” Bright said, noting that the industry has already created many jobs in red states like Texas and Louisiana.
Belote, the wind advisor, is hopeful that eventually voters in Republican districts will pressure lawmakers in Washington to push back against the administration’s wind crackdown.
“It’s incredibly short-sighted and ill-advised. For emotional and illogical reasons, we are taking two or three great steps backward,” Belote said.
